4/2014. NVB Directive
on the change of name of nominating organizations[1]

The National Election Committee, acting within its competence as laid down in Section 51 (1) of Act XXXVI of 2013 on Electoral Procedure (hereinafter: Ve.), issues the following

directive

In connection with their participation in the electoral procedure, the National Election Office keeps a public electronic register of candidates, nominating organizations registered by the National Election Committee, and lists. The register must be continuously updated based on the court register of civil organizations.

If the name of a party registered as a nominating organization by the National Election Committee changes with legal force after the decision on its registration, in order to use this new name in the electoral procedure, it must request a modification of its registered data from the National Election Committee. The Committee shall decide on the change of data with a decision recorded in the minutes.

If the name of the party registered as a nominating organization changes with legal force before the start of the collection of recommendations, and its request arrives at the National Election Committee by the time of the issuance of the recommendation sheets, and the Committee takes note of it with a decision in the minutes, the parliamentary individual constituency election office shall indicate this new name on the recommendation sheets for the organization, and the party may start collecting recommendations for its individual candidates under this name.

In the event that the name of a party registered as a nominating organization becomes legally valid during the recommendation period and it initiates the modification of its registered data with the National Election Committee, it may also request the recommendation sheets from the competent parliamentary individual constituency election office based on this new name, but in this case, the recommendations given on the recommendation sheets containing the previous name of the nominating organization can no longer be taken into account in the electoral procedure.

Recommendations given on the recommendation sheets containing the previous name and the new name of the nominating organization for the same candidate cannot be combined.

In the case of a candidate of a nominating organization affected by a name change, for whom the recommendation sheets collected for their support contained the previous name of the party, and the candidate was registered as a candidate under the previous name of the nominating organization, the legally valid name change acknowledged by the National Election Committee results in their withdrawal, given that it would violate the requirement of good faith and proper exercise of rights and the protection of the integrity of the election if the same party appeared under different names in different constituencies in the electoral procedure.

The directive is aimed at interpreting the following provisions of the Ve.:

"Section 119 (1) An organization that wishes to nominate a candidate or a list must be announced as a nominating organization to the National Election Committee after the election is called.

(2) The nominating organization may be announced by the person authorized to represent it."

"Section 121 (1) The election office shall indicate the name of the voter intending to run as a candidate, the name of the nominating organization or the fact of independent nomination, and the designation of the constituency on the recommendation sheet. In the case of a joint candidate, the names of all nominating organizations that nominate the joint candidate must be indicated on the recommendation sheet.

(2) The election office shall hand over the requested number of recommendation sheets to the applicant immediately after their request, but no earlier than the forty-eighth day before the vote. The election office shall provide all recommendation sheets with a serial number and a certifying stamp impression."

"Section 135 (1) The public, electronic register of the announced and registered nominating organizations, candidates, and lists - with the data content according to Annex 4 - is kept by the National Election Office. Changes to the register are made by the election office operating alongside the election committee that registered or deleted them from the register."

"Section 136 The data of nominating organizations must be continuously updated based on the data of the court register of civil organizations. If a nominating organization is deleted from the court register of civil organizations, the National Election Committee shall delete the nominating organization from the register of nominating organizations.

Section 137 A candidate is withdrawn if they resign from the nomination in writing before the start of the vote, are deleted from the central voter register, lose the right to be elected, or if the election committee deletes the nominating organization that nominated the candidate from the register of nominating organizations, candidates, and lists. The name of the withdrawn candidate must be deleted from the register of nominating organizations, candidates, and lists, and from the individual ballots."

Justification

According to Article VIII (3) of the Fundamental Law of Hungary (hereinafter: Fundamental Law), parties may be freely formed and operate on the basis of the right of association. According to Act CLXXV of 2011 on the right of association, public benefit status, and the operation and support of civil organizations, Section 4 (1)-(2), and Act IV of 1959 on the Civil Code (hereinafter: Ptk.), a party is a legal person established on the basis of the right of association, which is created by registration. Based on the Fundamental Law, rights are acquired by the party as a legal entity created by law, and as such a legal entity it is subject to obligations.

The Fundamental Law states that the fundamental social purpose of parties is to contribute to the formation and expression of the will of the people, and to provide an organized framework for citizen participation in political life. In accordance with the provisions of the Ptk., a party can only be established for a purpose recognized by law. A party achieves its purpose laid down in the Fundamental Law and its statutes by addressing different layers of society. In this activity, the name of the party is of paramount importance, as it is the central element of its manifestation towards society, a tool in the realization of its constitutional purpose and goal. In addition to all this, it is the data that serves to clearly identify the organization, which is most present in the public consciousness, and which is of particular importance in the electoral procedure. However, a change of name does not terminate its legal personality and its previously acquired rights do not change either.

The power granted to the National Election Committee in Section 51 of the Ve. to issue directives is aimed at interpreting electoral laws; it takes into account other laws not applicable to elections when exercising this power, but it is not authorized to interpret them.

In the present case, the Committee interprets the rules on participation in the electoral procedure.

In the electoral procedure for the election of parliamentary representatives, a party can participate as a nominating organization only if it requests its registration with the National Election Committee. The National Election Committee registers the party if its announcement meets the legal requirements. While the party's participation in the electoral procedure begins with its registration, a key element of the decision on registration and thus the party's participation in the electoral procedure is the party's name. Based on all this, the use of a legally valid name change of a party registered as a nominating organization in the electoral procedure can only be taken into account in such a way that it does not violate the will expressed by the voter during both the recommendation and the vote, the principle of protecting the integrity of the election, and the principle of good faith and proper exercise of rights. A party that has been registered as a nominating organization and participates in the electoral procedure as a nominating organization can only enforce its other legal rights based on legal relationships outside the electoral procedure through the rules of the electoral procedure.

The registered nominating organization enters into a legal, procedural relationship individually with the voters who give it a recommendation during the recommendation period. This procedural relationship (legal relationship) is regulated by the Ve.

The cornerstone of the entire electoral procedure and electoral system is the expression and promotion of the voter's will, which constitutes the exercise of their constitutional right. According to Article 2 of the Fundamental Law, the election of parliamentary representatives ensures the free expression of the will of the voters. It also follows from the provision of the Fundamental Law that the election bodies have a fundamental task of protecting the will of the voters when exercising their duties and powers defined by law. In the electoral procedure for the election of parliamentary representatives, one of the first stages of expressing the will of the voters is that the voters support the voters who intend to run as candidates of parties registered as nominating organizations by the National Election Committee, the voters who intend to run as independent candidates, and the national minority self-governments registered by the National Election Committee with their recommendations.

A party registered as a nominating organization is entitled to nominate individual candidates in the parliamentary individual constituencies. The first step of nominating an individual candidate is collecting recommendations. According to Section 121 (1) of the Ve., in the case of a party's candidate, the parliamentary individual constituency election office shall indicate the name of the nominating organization, the name of the candidate, and the designation of the constituency on the recommendation sheet.

When giving a supporting recommendation, the voter expresses their will towards both the party registered as a nominating organization and the candidate. The only piece of information that serves to identify the nominating organization for the voter at the time of giving their recommendation is its name. The registration of a party's candidate is based on the recommendations given to them and the party, and in the electoral procedure, the candidate's legitimacy is provided by the social and voter support expressed towards them. A voter can only validly recommend on a recommendation sheet issued by the parliamentary individual constituency election office, and thus the content of their recommendation also includes the name of the party recorded on the recommendation sheet.

The protection of the expression of the voter's will laid down in the Fundamental Law, the principle of protecting the integrity of the election, and the good faith exercise of rights by the voter may be violated if the voter cannot clearly identify the party registered as a nominating organization due to a change in its name at the time of the recommendation or the vote.

The same effect would occur if the competent parliamentary individual constituency election committee does not register the individual candidate as a candidate of the party with the name under which they received the necessary number of recommendations to become a candidate due to a change in the party's name, or if the parliamentary individual constituency election committee takes into account recommendations containing different names of the party during the registration of the individual candidate.

All this would also violate the expression of the voter's will, because according to Section 122 (5) of the Ve., the voter cannot withdraw their recommendation - which was also given with regard to the name of the nominating organization.

Budapest, 17 February 2014

Dr. András Patyi
President of the National Election Committee

[1] Repealed by Directive 1/2021. NVB, Ineffective: from November 4, 2021